OSAA adds “Week 0” to high school football season

By Joe Hathaway on Thursday, April 11th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News

EASTERN OREGON — Local high school football teams’ seasons will look a bit different this upcoming fall.

The Oregon High School Activities Association (OSAA) confirmed to Elkhorn Media Group that it approved a recommendation to change the first contest date.

The recommendation now allows teams the opportunity to play in nine games over a 10-week period (instead of playing nine games in nine weeks).

Peter Weber, Executive Director of the OSAA, tells Elkhorn Media Group that extending the timeframe to 10 weeks will provide teams with greater scheduling flexibility and enable them to make mid-season adjustments in response to air quality concerns, which have become more prevalent in the initial weeks of recent seasons due to wildfires.

Weber says that teams opting to play in the first week of the season would also be able to have a bye week, allowing teams time to get healthy or implement new things in practice mid-season.

The schedules for eastern Oregon teams for the upcoming season have yet to be finalized.